1 - FIRST STEP

Alright, let's not waste anymore time. Let's get the show on the road.  Let's get the ball rolling. Other sayings that signify a beginning. This marks the first piece of work you will do for me - and it's a relatively easy one. It focuses on you, your interests, your strengths, your relationship with school, and it will also ask you to think about your goals and intents with this course. What do you want to do next? It's important for me to know where you want to go, so I can help you get there. What are you already pretty good at? Do you know that? Ultimately, a learner who knows themselves is one more able and likely to succeed.

So, what are we waiting for? GO!

1 - START Assignment

2 - Into the Wild

Great. Now things are getting serious. And what a great story to get serious about. For this, your first assignment of any size, you're going to read a short story about an impressive young man. Some of you may have seen Sen Penn's 2007 film Into the Wild. Before it was a film it was a book, written by Jon Krakauer in 1996. And before Jon published his book in 1996 he wrote the basic plot out in a magazine article called (spoiler alert) "Death of an Innocent" for Outside magazine.

The major task for this will be an essay. Not a long essay, not a research essay, but an essay all the same. It will be the first major piece of writing a get from you, so take your time, ask for help, and do it well.

2 - Into the Wild Assignment

You'll also need the story, so here it is:
Death of an Innocent Story

3 - Marley

Well then, do you know that guy? Most people can identify Nesta Robert "Bob" Marley, and we're going to use his recent bio-pic to practice some more skills. You'll get to listen to his music, learn more about the man behind the legend, and even build a dynamite slide show at the end! You have to do one anyway, so you might as well do it about a cool guy (womanizing aside). Are you ready? Then dive in!

3 - Marley Assignment

You will also need these:
Link for Mind Mapping Lesson
Link for Informative Slide Show Rubric


Also, at least for a little while the film is available on YouTube.
Until it gets removed, find it here.

4 - Now That's Interesting

Making some ground now, and you're almost half way done. This assignment focuses on two important school skills, Note Taking, and Research. You will be asked to watch/listen to some content (you can choose the talks you choose), take notes on them, and then turn some of that information into some Research Questions.

You can do it! Let me know when/if you need help.

4 - Now That's Interesting Assignment

5 - Research, Glorious Research

This assignment is all about the craft of research - and if I'm being honest, other than word count of papers, the biggest difference between high school and post-secondary school is that your research is MUCH more important in college/university. The process is much more rigorous and the materials are much better. This assignment will draw on work we've done in class around credibility, research questions, and the process and will also use plenty of videos -so get your headphones out. 

So, without further ado, here is The Research, Glorious Research Assignment.

VIDEOS YOU'LL NEED

1. The first thing you'll do for this assignment is watch this video. It's called WHAT IS RESEARCH? and will give you a decent starting point. The last 20 seconds or so are weird and irrelevant, don't hold it against me, it was a found video. 

2. The next one you need is a short one about credibility. It's called Evaluating Sources for Credibility and it will hopefully help to develop a sense of what Credibility is and why it's important.

3. Next you're going to need to go to The University of Sydney's Library page to play a game on scholarly/non-scholarly sources. 

4. Finally, this video will go over the Research Process with you, and it should be the last one you need for this assignment.

6 - Comparative Essay

OK. Here it is. Your next assignment is essentially just an essay. We will discuss the ins and outs of comparison essays in class, and I will post some lessons in the Skills/Resources section of the blog, but this is basically just an essay. Pick two things and get comparing!

Here is the Comparative Essay Assignment

And here is the Comparative Essay Rubric

You can use this Graphic Organizer to help you plan your comparison.
Or you can use THIS Graphic Organizer.

Or you can use none - two intersecting circles creates a venn-diagram, which works great.

7 - Research Report

More than half-way through the course now, so let's keep things moving. Now I want you to pick a topic, do some research work, and write up (a draft of) a paper. These are high end student skills, so don't be a hero and try to go it alone. Use the resources you have: classroom lessons, the Skills/Resources section of the BLOG, the library and all the wonderful librarians inside, and of course, me.

Here is the Research Report Assignment

Here is the Rubric for the Research Report (or Informative Essay)

8 - The Re-Essay

Oooooh I love these guys! But really, it isn't that bad. In truth, you will all write poor essays at some point - we all do. I've done it, every teacher you've ever had has written some silly, rushed, flawed, broken essays. It's like everything else, a skill that improves with practice.

If I think about it, I have written a LOT of bad essays in my decades of school. Most of them, in fact, I can't read now without cringing. But in my third year of University I was given some terrific advice by an English professor - he told me "Kevin, you don't write an essay, you RE-write an essay". I think he told me that so I didn't cry in his office when he gave me back the D paper he'd just marked, but I took the advice.

Great, thoughtful, easy-to-read essays aren't born simply. They start out as a flawed but decent essay, and they get re-worked. That's what this assignment is for. All you need for this assignment is an essay you've already written and submitted for me, and you'll need the marked up copy I returned to you. Once you have that, and perhaps a red pen, it's time to make this essay better. Use the assignment sheet below to help. Of course, I'm always available to help.

8 - The Re-Essay Assignment

9 - Culminating Task

Yup, it's the end of the road, you're almost done. There's the LAST ASSIGNMENT, which you do...<ahem> last. And before that, there's your chance to shine, the Culminating Task. As the name suggests, this is supposed to be a big expression of all the skills you've learned and developed through the course. There are two parts.

Part A - The Timed Writing Assignment

This is likely done already. You need to write one of these for each of the Senior English courses - which means if you did one in 3C, you have to do it again in 4C. We do these pretty much every Friday morning, so sign up and come get it done. If Friday morning doesn't work for you (work), then the onus is on you to sign up for a different time, likely late or early in the day.

Part B - Project

This part is not unlike other ISUs you've done, so no big surprises. There's lots of choice, so let's get together and I can show you the options. This is the one assignment that I want to give to you myself, to ensure you're ready to be successful. So come on in (or contact me) and let's get this done.

10 - LAST STEP!

OK. Can you believe it? You're nearly done this course. At this point, you've done both parts of the Culminating Task, you've worked on all of the necessary skills for College, and you're nearly ready to attack the next level of studies. But of course there's one last task - you must face yourself!

The last task is similar to the first step you took in this course in that it focuses on you. Whereas the first one looked at your skills at the start and your goals for the course, this one looks to see what you've accomplished and what you still need to know. As we said, knowing yourself as a student will be a large benefit moving forward in your studies, and self-evaluation should be a regular part of your life if you hope to reach your maximum potential.

10 - ENG4C LAST Assignment

When this is done let's make sure you're happy with your mark. But that's it, you're done!